As network technology has diffused into widespread practice in recent years, an idea, which is called home network, of connecting domestic PCs (Personal Computers) and home appliances with one another via a network has been come up with, and utilization of a network which is closed in a private home, such as a playback of contents like a video, a photo, or a piece of music which is stored in a PC using playback equipment which is a home appliance, is made.
UPnP AV (Universal Plug and Play AV) is used as a system for storage and playback of contents in a network, in which playback equipment plays back contents which it has acquired from a server apparatus (e.g., a hard disk recorder or a PC) which stores contents and provides contents to another apparatus. In UPnP AV, two or more devices including a media server (Media Server) and a device which is called a media renderer (Media Renderer) are connected to one another, and they are controlled by a control point.
A media server manages contents and transmits metadata (Metadata) of contents to the control point in response to a request. The media server also transmits contents to a media renderer in response to a request from the media renderer. The media renderer receives specification of a media server and contents from the control point, and then makes a request of the specified media server to transmit the specified contents thereto, and then plays back the contents transmitted thereto. The control point acquires the metadata of the contents from the media server, and then notifies a URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) of the contents stored in the metadata to the media renderer so as to make this media renderer play them back. In other words, the control point specifies the media server and the contents for the media renderer with the URI.
When making a media renderer play back contents, the user performs the following operations using the control point.
(1) Selection of a media renderer
(2) Selection of a media server
(3) Selection of contents
Some of the operations (1) to (3) can be performed automatically.
Conventionally, the client (i.e., the control point) generates display data on the basis of received data (contents, metadata of a device), and displays the data on a display of the client (i.e., the control point) so as to allow the user to perform the operations (1) to (3) on the display of the client (i.e., the control point) (for example, refer to patent reference 1).    [Patent reference 1] JP,2004-348455,A
A problem with the conventional control point which performs presentation of a UI (User Interface) as mentioned above is that in a case in which the control point is mounted in a portable apparatus, the display for presenting a selection menu for each of the operations (1) to (3) to be performed on the control point to users is subject to constraints on the data processing performance, storage area, visibility, operability, etc. of the portable apparatus, and therefore the user cannot use any other convenient-to-use display.
The present invention is made in order to solve the above-mentioned problem, and it is therefore an object of the present invention to present a UI which enables a user to select contents in a portable control point having constraints on its data processing performance, storage area, visibility, operability, etc., and to select metadata of a server apparatus by using a display of another apparatus.